


Anywhere You Go, Let Me Go Too

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cunnilingus, Developing Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Getting Together, Historical Inaccuracy, Minor Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Moving In Together, Naked Cuddling, Not Really Character Death, Oral Sex, Period-Typical Homophobia, Time Travel, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:20:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23005468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: What should have been a regular fight with Doom sends Tony hurtling back to the ‘40’s in the middle of World War Two. Maybe that would have been fine except he lands right in the middle of Project Rebirth and gets roped into becoming Howard’s assistant. Now Tony’s in love with someone that’ll be senile when he returns to the present, and he doesn’t know how to be fair to Peggy while trying to save himself a broken heart. Fortunately, Peggy doesn’t plan on being left behind.
Relationships: Peggy Carter & Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 74
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Fills for Tony Stark Bingo:  
> Chapter One: A2-Abducted  
> Chapter Two: R3-First Date  
> Chapter Three: T2-Kink: Rushed Sex  
> Chapter Four: K5-Anticipation  
> Chapter Five: S4-Interrupted Kiss

It had started with a simple, routine question from Steve. “Iron Man do you have a twenty on Doom?” 

“Negative, Captain Tightpants.” 

Steve sighed over the comms. “Tony.” 

“What happened to code names only on comms?” Clint asked. “Don’t bend the rules for Mom, Dad.” 

“Woah, why am I Mom?” Tony asked. Not that he particularly minded, but Steve had the whole nurturing-the-team thing going on. Weren’t mothers supposed to be the more nurturing of the parents? That’s what tv shows had led Tony to believe. 

“Because you have three children and feed and clothe all the rest of us. Besides, have you ever heard of a single dad not getting scooped up by a soccer mom? That’s cause it doesn’t happen. If you were the dad, you’d be married to Steve, and I don’t see that happening.” 

“Chatter,” Steve reminded them, though it didn’t sound like he expected to be listened to. Probably learnt from past experience. 

“Fine, but if Steve’s the dad, doesn’t that mean he should be in a relationship?” Tony asked. 

“How do you know he’s not?” 

Tony snorted. “If Steve were dating someone, I think we’d  _ all _ know.” 

Regular banter, regular fight. Tony found a room with a strange device Doom had built, and that wasn’t surprising either. The doombots guarding it crumpled with their usual lack of durability so it was easy for Tony to tell the team he was exiting the suit to investigate-- after having done a quick check that the device wasn’t going to explode or something. 

Jarvis was controlling the suit, watching the doorway and relaying what Tony told the team. Rather, what Tony was saying that Jarvis thought the team would want to know. Repeating everything would just be confusing for everyone since half of what came out of Tony’s mouth was random mumblings about what he was doing while it was happening. 

The delay between what happened and Jarvis relaying it meant that when Tony’s lack of self preservation overcame his curiosity and the machine was remotely powered up, Tony didn’t notice and Jarvis was unable to warn him in time. 

One second Tony was looking over Doom’s questionable craftsmanship, and the next he was waking up in a medical tent. With some old fashioned US military personnel around. Jesus fucking christ. If he’d been kidnapped by a bunch of old-war enthusiasts, he was gonna riot because the only thing worse than dumbass supervillains were nazis. 

“Tell the general he’s awake.” One of them nodded and left to go tell this general, which made sense but didn’t bode well for Tony. 

Tony sighed and didn’t even try to sit up. Getting out of the bed would surely make someone force him back down, and from the way his body ached, that was not something he wanted to provoke. If this wasn’t some fanatics with too much time on their hands, it was an alternate dimension since this was probably Doom that caused this. The longer he was awake, the clearer his head was. Kidnapping: unlikely. Doom sending him to an alternate dimension because he was an asshole: likely. 

That wasn’t good news as far as his current situation was concerned, but at least he knew that a rescue was imminent without him having to do anything. Reed would get back to the right place, and the team would tell him what had happened. Reed would probably say that this was all very experimental and he couldn’t guarantee that he could get Tony back, then two hours later, Tony would be back good as new. Well, as good as he was before he got teleported. 

With that idea in mind, he didn’t realize just how fucked he was until an unfamiliar general walked in, a young Howard Stark at his side. Tony knew immediately that this wasn’t something as simple as dimension travel-- if there was such a thing as simple dimension travel-- this was straight up time travel. Great. Just great. 

* * *

"I don't get what's so complicated about this," Tony complained, tugging the suspenders over his shoulders. "I'm your assistant, why would anyone pry?" 

Howard was clearly getting annoyed, but Tony was used to that-- even in this time for the handful of days that he’d been here-- so he didn't stop. "We look too similar." 

"I shaved my beard, I don't know what else you expect from me." And it felt so fucking weird. He hadn't been without his facial hair in twenty years. This was a sacrifice, whether Howard wanted to acknowledge it or not. It felt like something was off, so he kept bringing his hand up to scratch at his beard only to drag his nails across smooth skin. That was another thing: straight razors. His face hadn't been this soft since he was a goddamn  _ baby _ . It was a pain in the ass to use, and no one cared about the softness of his face that much. 

Howard pinched the bridge of his nose. "Tony." 

"Fine, then say I'm your estranged uncle or whatever, since I’m older than you.” And wasn’t that weird to think about, he was older than his father. “I still don't think it matters." 

"I'm going to say you're my half-brother," Howard said, dropping his hand and walking over to Tony. He slapped Tony's hands away from the collar and did his tie for him, since apparently the way Tony had been doing it was unacceptable. 

"Same father or same mother?" 

"Same mother, just to avoid complications." 

Tony smirked. "Complications like why you're in charge of your company?" 

"Yes. How much do you know how to do anyways?" 

"More than you." 

"In your time, maybe-" 

Tony snorted. 'Maybe'. Even if Howard had been alive and running things, Tony would definitely know more than him.

"-but what about here? You don't get any of your fancy future gizmos, do you have any experience with this time's technology?" 

"This is why I'm your assistant instead of the other way around. Also you have connections, yadda yadda yadda, all that jazz." 

Howard shook his head, stepping back and surveying his work. "You clean up well enough, I suppose." 

"Thanks, you should see me in a three piece." 

Howard ignored that, because trying to respond to every single thing that Tony said was an effort in futility. "Time to get to work. Remember what you're doing?" 

"Following your lead and keeping my mouth shut. Sir yes sir," he said jokingly. When Howard looked doubtful about his ability, Tony added, more seriously, "Don't draw attention to myself, I got it. Believe it or not, I have plenty of experience with that too." He hadn’t done it in a couple decades, but he knew how. 

He hesitated a moment longer, then nodded. They grabbed their jackets and slid them on before walking out the door. Tony didn't think anything about where they were going because it didn't really matter, did it? The future was already set. Anything Tony did or didn't do wouldn't impact where he'd come from, so there was nothing to worry about. 

Tony was doing his part, trailing after Howard like the little shadow he was; the last time he’d done this, he’d been much shorter. Howard went into a meeting, and Tony started to follow, only to get stopped with an arm in his way. 

"I need him with me," Howard said. 

"The general made it clear that this was for your ears only." 

Howard rolled his eyes expressively. "He's going to be there for the final project, so I would say that it doesn't make any sense for him to stay behind now. Would you agree with that statement?" 

"Uh, I'm sorry sir, but I'm not allowed to let him through." 

Howard pushed opened the door but didn't step inside. "Hey Phillips! Tell your little guard dog that I need my assistant with me." 

"Since when do you have an assistant?" he yelled back. 

"Since I started getting overwhelmed with all that work you expect me to do on top of running a company and helping the regular war effort.” It sounded the same as Tony talking to Fury. Like father, like son. “Where I go, he goes. Unless, of course, you want to try and find someone new for this project. By all means, have fun with that." 

"Stop your whining and get his ass in here." 

The guard dropped his arm, and Tony walked forward. A jolt of surprise went through him when he saw a too-familiar figure sitting behind the desk, but he was careful not to let it show on his face. Colonel fucking Phillips, the CO for the Super Serum Project. There was only one seat opposite the desk, and Howard took it. Tony stood to the side, paying attention while internally freaking the fuck out. Maybe he should rethink his former theory of 'can't possibly screw this up' for his actions in the past. This was way too close. It was too close to his own future, and too close to screwing the future of the entire world. Him being around  _ probably _ wouldn't stop Steve from becoming Captain America or getting in the plane to crash land  _ Valkyrie _ , but he didn’t want to take any chances. 

"You'll be working closely with Agent Carter," Phillips said, standing from his chair. "I know you've got a reputation Stark, but play nice. That woman'll put you in the ground if you lay a hand on her." 

"Reputation is exaggeration," Howard said with an easy smile. "She's an agent first, and a woman second; I'll remember that." 

That description didn't  _ quite  _ sound right to Tony, but feminism had come a long way in the past seventy years so he didn't say anything. He searched his brain, wondering why that name sounded familiar. Carter... Carter... Agent Carter, Shield? Right that was it. She was with Shield back when it was still the SSR, the direct opposite of Hydra instead of the feud they'd built up over the years, with Shield trying to save the world from itself, and Hydra trying to kill/rule them all. She'd done some pretty cool shit before she went missing, probably killed on a mission, but it had never been confirmed and her body had never been recovered. He'd read in a biography once that her and Steve had a war-time romance, but if you read enough books about Captain America, you'd see speculation about him with pretty much everyone he interacted with during the war, from Dr. Erskine to Agent Carter to Bucky Barnes himself-- Tony hadn't pried because he didn't really care, but it would be interesting to see who, if anyone, it ended up being. 

"Yeah," Phillips said, clearly not buying it, "well I'll introduce you, and any trouble you get into after that isn't my problem. Follow me, boys." 

Tony had been treated with far worse condescension than some stuck up colonel calling him 'boy', and Phillips hardly seemed to be doing a power-play right now, so Tony ignored it. He didn't really like this time though. He wanted that on the record. 

Phillips led the way, with Howard kinda walking beside him but also clearly following. Tony, of course, was following them, and he didn't mind that it was obvious. Phillips and Howard were still talking about business, but it was the non-classified stuff-- aka, the more boring things. Personally, Tony thought that even their classified information was boring, but maybe that was because he knew how it turned out. Then again, his classified meetings with the military back in the day had been dull as shit, so maybe all intel stuff was boring. To be quite honest, he didn't understand how Natasha filled her life with this when there were so much more interesting jobs out there. 

They entered a room filled with files, typewriters, and radios. And, of course, women operating them. They were all dressed to the nines, curled hair and perfect makeup with their perfectly pressed button up shirts and business skirts with high heels on their feet. The last time Tony had been in a room with comparable equipment, pretty much everyone had been dressed in sweats. Some of them had opted for exercise luxury wear, but it had served the same purpose. Tony couldn't imagine expecting an entire staff to dress up when they didn't need to, but that had been an unpopular opinion even in the twenty-first century. 

"Agent Carter," Colonel Phillips called. 

She had been bent over someone else's work, talking to them about the contents of their paper. When Phillips called her name, she straightened, turning to face them. 

Tony's heart skipped a beat, which was dangerous considering that if something happened to the arc reactor right now, he'd just die since there was no backup and no one here could hazard a guess about how to work with it. No one in his time could do it either, but that was beside the point. 

Agent Carter was Black Widow levels of gorgeous, with a similar steel in her gaze that meant if either of them tried to say something about it to her, she was going to make them regret it. 

He was going to be in so much trouble. 

"Colonel Phillips," Agent Carter said, walking over to them. 

"Agent Carter, glad to see you're keeping an eye on things here." 

There was a flash in her eyes like she disagreed with him commenting on it, but she didn't say anything. 

"This is Howard Stark, he's coming in to help us with Project Rebirth, among other things. You're to keep him posted with the project's progress." 

She nodded in agreement, and Phillips gave her a nod goodbye before turning and leaving. "Mister Stark, I look forward to working with you," she said, holding out her hand for a shake. 

Howard being Howard, took her hand it turned it so he could kiss the back. "The pleasure's all mine," he murmured, smiling as he looked up at her through his eyelashes. 

Tony couldn't help but roll his eyes. 

Agent Carter narrowed her eyes at him, but again, she couldn't say anything about it. She pulled her hand back a touch aggressively, and Tony recognized the telltale flexing of her fingers that meant she wanted to wash her hands-- or at least wipe them off. "And you are?" she asked Tony. 

"Also Mister Stark, I'm afraid. Nice to meet you Agent Carter, I've heard good things." 

"Have you?" she said, raising an eyebrow. 

"Well not yet, but I'm sure you'll prove me right." He wasn’t using his flirting voice, but it still sounded too flirtatious considering what Howard had just done and it was obvious she didn’t appreciate that. 

"Hm." She turned back to Howard. "I'll find you to brief you on the situation, Mister Stark. There's no need to seek me out." Shee spun back around and went back to what she had been doing before they came in. 

When Howard continued to stand there looking dumbstruck, Tony put a hand on his arm and started pulling him to the exit. No one had to show him the way out of the building, and Howard didn't rouse himself until they were walking out the doors. "She didn't even look at me." 

"Have you given her a reason to?" 

Howard looked at him, affronted. "What's that supposed to mean?" 

"It means that she's attractive and she knows it," Tony said, rolling his eyes. If he kept rolling his eyes this much, he was going to hurt something. "Do you have any idea how many men hit on her?" 

"Hit on her? Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?" 

"Show interest, try to get a date, whatever you want to call it. Point is Howard, she can have whoever she wants, and that's not you." 

"I'm a catch." 

"Sure you are." 

Howard glared at him, though it was clear he wasn't actually angry. "We look the same, you know." 

"Similar, not the same. Did you give her a single reason to like you? Or did you just assume that she would because it's what you wanted?" 

Howard dropped the frustrated facade since it wasn't getting him anywhere. "Never failed before." 

"That's because everyone else likes your money. I can't speak for her, but she's probably not interested in getting married and settling down, even if she  _ did _ like you." 

Howard huffed. "The more we talk, the more annoying you get." 

"It's all part of my charm." And the same could be said about Howard. 


	2. Closer

"Mister Stark?" Agent Carter asked, file in one hand and her other up to knock on the door. She peeked her head in, and Tony wanted to give her his full attention-- or at least as much of it as he could ever give someone-- but he was elbow deep in a truck's engine. 

"Howard's in the city right now!" Tony called. It was stupid hard to breathe with his stomach pressed against a chunk of metal, but he only needed to reach a little further and- ah, done. He started to lean up, black spots winking in the edges of his vision as he hurried to straighten, and then there was a crack against the back of his skull as he banged his head on the hood cover. "Shit," he bit out, holding a hand to the throbbing section. He was used to different dimensions-- the dimensions of his own fucking cars without any of this low hanging bullshit-- and sticking his head in a couple cars wasn’t enough to cure him of that expectation. 

Agent Carter was still there when he managed to safely extricated himself, and he continued to rub at the spot on his head. 

"Are you dropping something off?" 

She still didn't say anything, and Tony dropped his hand to the side. 

"His desk is over there if you need." He pointed the appropriate direction, then headed to the ice box for something to put on his head. It's not like he had a concussion or anything, but it still hurt like a motherfucker. He didn't hear her heels clicking against the floor, so after he had a bag of ice pressed to the back of his head, he glanced over at her. "Uh, is something wrong? Cause I'm not really sure that I'm the person to see about it. Mostly I just do what Howard's too busy for." 

"I'm not sure that's true." 

"She speaks! Are you going to tell me why you're here or do I get to guess?" 

One side of her mouth ticked upwards in a smile. "The file is for Howard," she said, walking over to his desk and setting it down, "but I was hoping to ask you a question." 

"Shoot for the moon, Agent Carter, I have very little to hide and a mouth that won't stop flapping." 

"Why are you Howard's assistant instead of the other way around?" 

"Cause it's his company, his deals, and his contract. I'm just here to curse at engines and crack my skull against random bits of metal." 

"You're better at this than he is," she said. "You're more comfortable talking to Colonel Phillips, and when he flounders, you're always there with the proper response." 

Tony shrugged, which felt weird with one hand holding ice to his head. "His company. I wouldn't want to run it even if I had the opportunity." 

"Why haven't you had the opportunity? You're clearly older than him." 

He grinned at her. "Come now, Agent Carter. You don't expect for me to answer that when it so clearly is laden with tightly held secrets, now do you?" 

"I suppose not." She nodded at him. "It was nice chatting with you, Mister Stark. I look forward to working with you further." 

* * *

"Rogers," Howard said, flipping through his file. "He doesn't look like much." 

"Erskine says that doesn't have anything to do with it," Tony reminded him. 

"Still." He turned the file around to show Tony the picture in it. "Would you expect him to make it through the operation? It's going to put him through an extreme amount of pain. With all his issues, I don’t think he'll survive it." 

"That's if he gets chosen." Tony knew that he would, but Howard didn't know that. Right now, they were just flipping through all the files for people in the program to get a feel for who they could be working with soon. "Agent Carter." 

"Hm?" She looked up from where she was marking a report. 

"You've met the recruits. Anyone promising?" 

"A few," she said noncommittally. "It's difficult to judge this early in the process." 

"Mmhmm," Tony said with a shit-eating grin. 

"What?" Howard asked, confused. 

"Nothing." 

Agent Carter looked a little confused as well, but she turned back to her report, and Howard went back to the files. 

* * *

Tony and Agent Carter were waiting for Howard to return from the city late one night. The rest of the camp was down for the night, catching what sleep they could. "Do you ever get mad that you were sent over here instead of to the front?" Tony asked. 

"Does it matter? This is where I am." 

"I wouldn't say it _matters_ , but it might make you mad, and it's not like I'm going to tell anyone." He rolled his head lazily to face her. "So?" 

She was quiet for a moment, considering. "Yes." 

Tony nodded. "I would be too." 

"Project Rebirth is important. If it succeeds, it could turn the tide in the war." 

"True, but it's not like it requires you being here. Howard's here because he's a civilian. Phillips is here to supervise, and Erskine _has_ to be here; he wouldn't be any use in Europe. But you? Nah, that's not right." 

She swallowed. "Thank you for saying so." 

"It's the truth." 

"Perhaps, but it's not one any other man would admit." 

* * *

Captain America was made, and Peggy went to the war front where she belonged. Howard and Tony didn't really belong there, but Howard was investing in this war with the hope that he'd come out on top instead of going bankrupt or getting killed. Tony knew it worked out for him, so he didn't protest when Howard told him the news of them packing up and getting on a plane the next week. 

The USO came to visit the troops, and Tony steered clear of one Steve Rogers, knowing how crucial this time was for him. Plus he didn't fancy getting recognized by Steve in the future as 'that one assistant of Howard's'. The less he saw of Steve back here, the better. 

* * *

Peggy came hurrying into their building, dragging a wet Steve Rogers behind her. "Tony. Is Mister Stark here?" That was something Tony loved. To her, he was Tony, and Howard was still 'Mister Stark'. It was the little things that made life worth living, like the woman he was half in love with liking him more than his father when Howard was the one with all the money. 

"Bathroom. Something I can help you with?" 

She hesitated. "We need a plane. And a pilot." 

Tony raised an eyebrow even though he already knew why-- he'd heard this story a hundred times growing up, but Howard had never mentioned that he wasn’t the one flying it. "What for?" 

"Something of a suicide mission. Interested?" 

"Course I am," he said, smiling widely. "Where are we going?" 

* * *

Steve saved his best friend and a whole bunch of others. He made the front page for the first time, and Tony wanted to tease him, but it wasn't the Cap he was familiar with. It would just be weird to try and make conversation like that when he'd barely talked to this Steve at all. 

There was a little celebration happening at the local bar. Nothing official of course, but everyone was in high spirits after the rescue. Events like that were good for morale, and it was nice for the mood to be upbeat for once instead of everyone trying to drink the war out of their minds. 

Tony was sitting at the bar having a frankly terrible beer when she walked in. It's not like he was watching the entrance, but the bar was filled with men that hadn't seen the company of a lady in quite some time. Loud conversations quieted, and even the guy playing the piano stuttered. He glanced over to see what the commotion was and had to swallow around a suddenly dry throat. 

Peggy was a vision, her hair pinned away from her face on one side. The dress she was wearing was a brilliant red, the waist pulled in and the fabric hugging tight to her torso. Tony had seen far more revealing outfits, but it was different here. There was a necklace she didn't usually wear accenting the neckline, and he swallowed again before turning back to his drink. Whoever she was here to see, she probably didn't want everyone else gawking at her like a piece of meat. 

Tony was nosy though, so he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She walked up to Steve and started talking. Huh, maybe there was more merit to that theory than he'd originally thought. They hadn't known each other very well before, but it would make sense that people would grow close after she helped him sneak behind enemy lines against orders. 

He was shocked when, a minute later, she slid into the seat next to him. 

"Agent Carter," he greeted. 

"We're off duty, you know." 

"How much does that matter when the war's a couple dozen miles away? I'm pretty sure we're all on duty all the time." 

"That's more pessimism from you than I'm used to." 

"War times," he said with a smile. "It brings everyone down after a while." 

"Clearly," she said, but she was smiling too. "Not going to offer to buy me a drink?" 

"Dressed like that, I assumed you were meeting someone and that _they_ were going to buy you a drink." 

"I am," she confirmed. Only, instead of saying goodbye and going on her way, she got more comfortable in her seat. "Going to buy me a drink, Tony?" 

Tony blinked, wondering if this was really happening. She could do so much better than an out-of-time mechanic who was probably too old for her. But he'd never been one to pass up selfish opportunities, so he said, "What are you drinking tonight, Agent Carter?" 

"A beer will be fine. Though if we're going to have a date, you should really call me Peggy." 

"Is that what this is?" Tony said as he motioned to the bartender for a drink. "A date?" 

"Isn't it?" she asked. 

He couldn’t say no.


	3. War is a good place for love

Peggy walked into their workshop, the Howling Commandos and Captain America in tow. Inwardly, Tony sighed. Why was it that Howard was never here for any of these important moments? Tony was having to deal with Phillips more and more, and while he liked seeing Peggy all the time, technically Howard was supposed to be the one filling this role. Flying Steve towards his first rescue mission was the big event that came to mind. As a child, Tony had heard that story many times, and not once had Howard mentioned someone else. At the time it happened, it hadn’t bothered Tony too much, but he was starting to worry about it now. The disparity could be explained away by Howard taking credit for something he hadn't done, but the more disturbing possibility was that Tony was replacing his spot in this chapter of history. 

"Thanks Agent Carter, but I don't actually need a squad to clean the place for me." Tony barely spared the group a glance as he continued wiring the communicator. 

Peggy rolled her eyes fondly, not missing a step. Apparently the joke didn't land for the rest of them, judging by some of their expressions. "You've met Captain Rogers before." 

"Hard to forget." 

"I'm going to assume that means you remember Sergeant Barnes as well?" 

"Yep." 

"We never met," Bucky said. 

"And yet I remember you perfectly." Mostly because he knew that Steve still missed his best friend, so as soon as Tony knew who he was, what Bucky looked like was burned into his brain. The old photos hadn’t really done him justice, Bucky Barnes was one good looking bastard. 

"The others are Dugan, Falsworth, Dernier, Jones, and Morita." When Peggy had started to list them, Tony looked up, ostensibly to match the faces to the names (the photos of them were a lot more plentiful since all of them had made it out of the war alive). Mostly he was just wondering why this introduction was happening in the first place. 

"Uh, okay, good for them? What does this have to do with me?" 

A beat. "I take it Howard didn't talk to you." 

"About what," Tony said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. 

"Given the importance of their missions, the Howling Commandos' maintenance requests can't go through the usual channels. Instead, they'll come directly to you." 

"Don't you mean Howard?" 

Peggy shook her head, giving him a sympathetic pat on the back when he groaned. 

"I swear to god, if he makes me do anymore of his shit I'm going to turn into him.” And that was a goddamn nightmare if there ever was one. “Where the hell is he when he's making these decisions for me, exactly?" 

"Language," Steve cut in, eyes glancing towards Peggy pointedly. 

"Oh calm down, she's in a war, she can handle a couple curse words. Or, imagine this, she might say a few herself." Tony gave him a condescending nod. "You expect me to deal with this all the time?" he asked her, ignoring the part where they could definitely hear him say that. 

"Unless you want to argue with Phillips about it for the next two weeks." 

"I don't think it would take two weeks, I’m very annoying." 

"You're right," Peggy agreed. "You'd cave after two days." 

Tony finally stopped tinkering and frowned up at her. "You have no faith in me. I can be very stubborn." 

"I have no doubt, but I believe that you'll do the right thing and fix their gear for them when it gets busted. Unless you can find someone just as skilled to take it on for you, you're stuck."

"Great, you’re using my ego to play me, that’s cold, Agent Carter, very cold," Tony said, making a face. He could, of course, refuse entirely just to prove a point, but what good would that do? None. Besides, it's not like he wanted their gear to fail, and handing it off to someone else would put them at risk. Mostly what he hated about this was that Howard had accepted it for him, and then he hadn't bothered to tell Tony what was going on so he was blindsided. "Do you have any starting orders?" Tony asked, leaning in his chair to look at them. "Or is this just a meet-and-greet?" 

Looking sheepish and uncertain, Steve hefted the shield. "The strap broke. I tried to fix it, but it keeps coming loose." 

Tony was _not_ an expert on shields, but he was about to be. He started clearing the table, shoving the communicator to the side carelessly-- mostly because he'd been doing it as a favor to Howard, and right now he wouldn't have picked up a piece of trash if it helped that man. He pat the newly empty space. "Let's see what's going on." 

Steve put the shield on the table, inside of it facing up. 

Tony blinked, then leaned closer and blinked again. He looked up at Steve. "What the fuck did you do to this?" 

"I didn't do anything!" Steve defended automatically. God, he was just so innocent that he didn't realize Tony was half-teasing him-- the other half was being serious, because really. Who looked at a shield and then used it as a battering ram? Only Captain fucking America. 

"Mmhmm," Tony hummed, clearly not believing him. "This is your primary weapon?" 

"I have a gun." 

"That you barely use," Bucky said, rolling his eyes. 

"Uh yeah, well this wasn't fitted to be a warhammer, it was built for a shield. You know, one of those defending things to stop bullets? It wasn't intended to be a bullet itself." Tony turned the shield this way and that, studying the exact angle it had pinched off at. He picked it up and held it out to Steve. "Show me how you use it." 

Steve haltingly took it in hand, but it's like he was showing Tony the official way to use it instead of demonstrating how he actually held it. 

Tony sighed. This was going to be a long process. 

Later-- _ridiculously_ later, like seriously it should not have taken half as long as it did-- the Howlies left, but Peggy stayed in the workshop with him. "Thank you for distracting them for me," she said, collapsing into a vacant chair. "Phillips told me to keep them busy while he plans their next mission." 

"Does he realize you can do more than that?" 

She toed her heels off, wiggling her feet in their newfound freedom. "If he knows, he doesn't care. I'm not sure he cares that Captain Rogers could do it either." 

"Let's assassinate him." 

Peggy laughed. 

"No really, I don't see how this could go wrong. You'll be the brains, I'll be the brains, and Captain Rogers will be the brawn. And also kinda the brains. Let's be honest, Barnes is the looks and charm. Together, we'll be unstoppable. Mostly because of you, but I can take some credit if it'll make you feel better." 

"Oh you would? Thank you for that generous offer, Tony." 

"No problem." 

There were a few minutes of silence as Tony tried to untangle the mess he'd made of the communicator's wiring when he shoved it aside, and Peggy got more comfortable, rubbing her feet to get rid of some of the tension she'd accumulated throughout the day. "When was the last time you got some sleep?" she asked, watching his fingers slip out of place again. 

"Last night, same as you and everyone else." 

"Maybe we should turn in early instead of working for another three hours." 

"That sounds awfully respectable of us. I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of responsibility. A full night's sleep? Who knows what havoc that will wreak on my body after so long without." 

"I think you misunderstand my offer." 

Tony paused, glancing up at her. He'd thought she was simply saying 'get some rest cause you look like shit', but when he saw her expression, it was obvious she meant something else. She was leaning towards him with her posture open, eyes dark and interested. They'd spent a fair amount of time kissing, but they'd never ventured further. To be honest, Tony didn't think it would ever go past that, but here she was, looking at him in a way that was very familiar to him though not coming from her. "Peggy... I'm not sure that's something you want." 

Her face hardened, and she leaned back in her chair. "You think you know what I want?" 

"I didn't mean it like that." All he meant was that he was from the future, and she didn't know anything about him or his list of sins that was a mile long and drenched in blood. As far as she knew, he'd been handed the lot of bastard from a well-off family but was trying to help people anyways. The way she saw him wasn’t the way he saw himself, and that felt way too fucking dishonest to let her go through with this. "There's a lot you don't know about me-" 

"And you think whatever it is that I don't know about you will change my mind?" she asked. 

Tony swallowed, wondering if maybe he should lie and paste on a smile. He didn't. "Yes." 

Peggy tapped her fingers on the chair, her nails clicking against it to show her irritation as she thought. "Then why don't you tell me?" 

"I can't." 

She raised an eyebrow. "Who else can you tell? Your half-brother? I'm fairly certain I see him more often than you, and even when he's around, you don't look happy about it." 

"What makes you think I want to talk about it," Tony asked flatly. Weapons he'd built. Blood spattering the sand only to be covered a day later like it had never been there. Obie refusing his hand and falling to be crushed in the suit that Tony had originally built to save him and Yinsen. Yinsen. Pepper and the way she'd been tortured because Tony had been too drunk to pretend to be nice years before. He didn't want to think about it, and he sure as hell didn't want to talk about it. 

"Then what does it matter? If it's not so important to talk about, then it doesn't need to effect your life." She blew out a breath, looking annoyed. "Look at me now, trying to convince you to want this like I have no self-respect." She pushed herself up, starting to pull her shoes back on. 

"Peggy?"

"Hm?" 

"It's not that I don't want to." Tony rubbed at his face, and the jokes from earlier about not getting enough rest started to hit him hard. This place wasn't home. He couldn't relax; he spent his time trying to help with the war without changing it too much, and what little extra time he had was spent trying to futilely find a way back home. Doom must have been working on that machine for years, there had been so many wires made of rare materials that Tony didn’t know how to get in this time. Doing all this mechanical and engineering work with constrictions was another thing that was wearing him down, it felt too much like his early days of running Stark Industries. Like everything though, there were bright spots; it's not like he was miserable all the time, it was just exhausting. Doing it day in and day out was wearing on him. "It's _really_ not that I don't want to." 

"I don't see what's stopping you." 

"A lack of privacy, for one." 

"We're alone now." 

Tony blinked at her, looking around. It was true, there was just the two of them in the workshop, and there was a single door, which had a lock. "I don't know about you, but I don't exactly keep a condom on me." 

Peggy reached into her shirt pocket and held it up between two fingers. 

"Can't say I was expecting that. Still, you sure you want to do this in here? It's uh, kinda not comfortable at all." 

Now that she didn't feel like Tony had been toying with her affections, she was in a better mood. "I wasn't suggesting we have sex in here, my point was that we're alone here, now, so it would be just as easy to be alone in one of our rooms." She paused, mulling it over. "Probably yours, since mine is in the same building with many officers, and I don't want to deal with them should they find out." She walked back over to him since she wasn't leaving by herself, leaning against the table next to him. 

"This is why you're the smart one," he commented, his hand curving over her thigh. "Always planning ahead." He stood up and kissed her. He sort of meant to keep it small. A little kiss before they went on their way, but then he sunk into it, one of his hands sliding from her thigh to her hip, and the other coming up to rest in the middle of her back. 

Peggy's hands were at his shoulders, pulling him in closer. He still might have pulled back except she moved one of her hands to the back of his neck, and her nails scraped the bottom of his hairline, making him shudder. He moved to be directly in front of her, and she slid herself up so that she was sitting on the table instead of leaning against it. Again, Tony didn't intend to get down and dirty in the workshop, but Peggy was moaning and their bodies were pressed together, and when they paused to catch their breath, chests heaving in tandem, all Tony wanted was to wreck her. 

"Trust me?" he asked, slowly moving one of his hands in between her legs and up her skirt. 

She nodded, and his fingers brushed against her underwear. 

Permission given, he grabbed fistfuls of her skirt and wiggled it up so he had better access. "You're goddamn gorgeous," he whispered, rubbing his thumb against her in broad strokes. 

Peggy's breath hitched, and her head leaned back automatically, throat working. "God," she choked out. Tony put his lips against her neck and started kissing. He wanted to bite, to see if she liked it and give it to her if she did, but she couldn't have marks in the morning, and he was probably too old to be leaving hickeys anyways. Where he was from didn't mean shit right now, not when he had her in his arms and she wanted more of him than he was currently giving. 

He ran the pad of his thumb along the length of her, feeling wetness where she'd soaked through her underwear. Tony dropped to his knees and pulled her panties-- white, utilitarian, and way too sexy on her for what they were-- to the side. 

"What're you- oh! Mmm," she moaned, eyes fluttering closed as he put his mouth on her. He wasn't doing anything yet, just kissing her down there because he wanted to. Tony licked the length of her entrance lightly, getting her taste in his mouth before pressing firmly on her clit, moving his tongue back and forth experimentally. Her breath caught as he tried different patterns, but he waited until her thighs tensed around his head to decide which one was best. 

After a minute, she leaned back, one elbow propping her up on the table and the other tangling in his hair, her fingers flexing every time he hit a particularly good spot. She couldn't be too loud, both of them aware of how easily they could get caught-- because Tony was pretty sure he'd forgotten to lock the door and he hadn't seen her do it either-- plus sound echoed here with all the metal and empty air, but a moan escaped her mouth like she’d found heaven on earth. He was getting slick all over his chin, and there was hair in his mouth but he didn't give a single fuck if he could her hear make that sound again. 

His jaw ached something fierce by the time she came, but it still felt like it happened too quickly. He wanted to memorize every single thing she liked, what made her tremble, and what made her bite her lip so hard it looked like she was going to make herself bleed. As it was, she was panting, leaning fully on the table as she tried to catch her breath. "Where- the hell- did you- learn to do- that?" 

The twenty first century, he thought automatically, but it wasn't enough to ruin his good mood and he grinned smugly at her, though she couldn't see it. "Here and there," he said noncommittally. "I take it you enjoyed yourself?" 

"Shut it," she mumbled, throwing an arm over her eyes like that would hide her. She looked like exactly the kind of mess Tony had been hoping for, her usually flawless red lipstick smeared around her mouth and on her teeth, skirt hiked around her hips and underwear pushed aside to expose her vulva. 

He wiped at his chin, trying to get it as clean as he could while she recovered. He was pretty damn proud of himself to be honest. 

A minute later, Peggy propped herself up on her elbows, looking down at him where he was still kneeling on the floor. "You've got my lipstick on your face." 

"I'm not surprised," he said, rubbing his hands harder against his skin, but even he could tell that it wasn't doing any good. 

She chuckled, fixing her underwear and skirt, then hopping off the table. "You look ridiculous, I hope you know." 

"Of course I know, but I've looked worse in far more public places." 

"Ooo is that your big, dark secret? Public lewdness?" 

"Among other things," he said with a smile. 

Peggy leaned down and kissed him again, positively _filthy_. "Let's get our faces cleaned up, then we can head to your room, hm?" 

Tony licked his lips automatically when she pulled away. "Sure," he breathed. "Sounds good." 

* * *

Peggy found herself alone with Steve, the other Howling Commandos talking with Tony when Steve had asked to talk to her in private. "What is it, Captain?" she asked. 

"It's nothing official," he said, looking nervous. 

She relaxed slightly, then got worried. Normally when men acted this way around her, it was because they were about to confess... things. And they were never things she wanted to hear. It's not that Steve had acted like he was interested in her, but she'd thought that about too many people before to be at ease. 

"I can tell you anything, right? And you'll keep it to yourself?" 

"Of course," she said. Then she waited for him to continue. Steve gnawed on his lip, saying nothing. "Steve?" she prompted. "What is it?" 

"I'm in love with Bucky," he said in a rush. The words rang in the empty room, and Peggy's stomach dropped. That was dangerous. If they ever got caught, she couldn't even venture a guess for what would happen. Most of the time, CO's turned a blind eye to it, but there was no telling when someone was as public a figure as Captain America. Steve knew that, and he looked beyond worried about her reaction. 

"I'm fucking Tony," she offered. 

His eyebrows shot up. "Stark?" 

She nodded. 

"The one that fixes our gear. That Tony Stark?" 

"Do you know of any others?" she asked. 

"God I hope not," he muttered. "Isn't he a bit..." 

"A bit what?" 

"Strange. His mind never stays in one place if you know what I mean." 

"I never find his attention lacking," she said, a smirk curving around her mouth. 

Steve rolled his eyes like he regretted mentioning it. 

"So, you and Bucky." 

"What?" Steve asked, frowning in confusion. Then he understood and a pained expression took over instead. "No. He's not... not." 

Peggy blinked in surprise. "Oh. I'm sorry, I just assumed. Does he know how you feel?" 

Steve shook his head, looking miserable. "I'm his friend, and that's it. That's all I'll ever be. It's stupid, y'know? I used to know that I'd only ever be his friend, but then-." 

"The serum," Peggy guessed, and Steve nodded. "You thought he'd find you attractive afterwards and want you?" 

"No. Not really, I just... I thought he'd stop thinking of me as someone he had to protect." 

"He doesn't think of you that way," she said. 

"He does," Steve argued tiredly. This was a foregone conclusion in his mind, something he already knew for a fact. 

Frankly, Peggy didn't see it. "Then why tell me?" 

"I don't know." 

"Yes you do." 

"I guess," Steve stopped, sighed. "I guess I wanted someone else to know." 

"Did it help?" 

He shrugged. 

Peggy thought for a moment before voicing her idea. "Have you considered telling him?" 

"He's not going to feel the same." 

"Maybe not, but at least you'll know for sure." 

He shook his head. "Thanks for the advice Peggy, but that's not what I'm looking for." 

"Then what are you looking for?" 

Steve sighed again, and this time it sounded aggravated. "I don't know." He rubbed at his forehead. "I'm sorry Peggy, I shouldn't have said anything." 

"Don't say that. Maybe I didn't help you, but at least nothing bad came of it." 

"Yeah," Steve said with a humorless chuckle. "At least there's that. So, you and Tony?" 

"Oh, are we gossiping now, Captain Rogers? Chatting about our boys?" 

"I'm sure you don't want to hear me talk about how handsome Bucky is." 

"And I'm quite sure that you don't want to hear _me_ talk about how handsome Tony is, but you're the one that asked about us." 

"Yeah, I suppose I don't. How did that even happen? I didn't know you two were that close." 

Peggy shrugged, leaning her weight more heavily on one of her legs. "He respects me," she said, and she loved that she didn't have to add a modifier there. Tony respected her. Period. He was by no means perfect, but he was far better than the blurry image of a future husband she'd always thought she'd end up with. "Most of our time is spent in private, where I don't have to hear the comments people make. That you were surprised to hear it makes me feel better about the whole situation." 

"Good," Steve said, nodding. "I'm happy for you." 

Peggy smiled, amused. "How grateful I am to have Captain America's blessing." 

He blushed and started stammering out an apology, reminding her of the car ride they'd taken to inject him with the serum where he'd babbled all over himself trying to be nice to her but still have a conversation. 

"Relax Steve, I was only joking. Thank you. And I hope you'll be as happy as I am some day." 

"I'm happy now. I mean, not as much as I could be, but it ain't bad. I'm helping people, better than what I was doing in the USO show." 

"You were still helping," Peggy reminded him, not wanting him to feel bitter about the whole experience even though she agreed. 

Steve made a face like he sort of saw her point but didn't want to admit it. 

"We should be heading back. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" 

"No, that was pretty much the half of it. Thanks, Peggy, I appreciate it." 

She smiled at him. "Any time, Steve." 

They left the room and walked back to Tony's workshop-- officially Howard's, but the man was hardly ever around, too busy with things that were above Peggy's pay grade. 

"Everything okay?" Tony asked distractedly as he inspected a piece of broken Hydra tech. 

"Fine," Peggy said, not elaborating further. Tony just nodded, and she watched as Bucky perked up at seeing Steve again. Bucky threw an arm around his shoulders when he got close, and he put a hand on the back of Steve's neck to keep him from running away. It must kill Steve to have that kind of closeness with Bucky and know that it didn’t mean what he wanted. 

"Since they refuse to listen to me, would you mind telling them that I can't work miracles?" 

She turned her head to the group. "Tony doesn't work miracles." 

"Aw c'mon Stark," Bucky said, "you have an entire hunk of metal in front of you. That's genius work, not miracles." 

Tony looked up from his work for a moment solely to glare at him. "I used to think I liked you, but I was wrong. Out of my 'shop, you cretin." 

* * *

Tony thought he had time. In a way, he did. It's not like he had disappeared back to the future or anything that would have been actually useful, no. This was about Bucky fucking Barnes and his glowing best friend Steve Rogers. Bucky fell off the train whenever they captured Zola, and Steve came up with a plan that saved the world. Tony had known it was going to happen. Of course it was, he'd studied World War Two the same as everyone, and with Howard being obsessed with finding Steve in the ocean, Tony was a mini-expert on Captain America. 

This meant that he knew the difference between open information, and information that had been declassified over the decades. He knew the date that Zola was captured, because two days later is when Steve Rogers saved the world by crashing _Valkyrie_. It was the same week as VE Day, everyone knew that fucking time, it was impossible not to. 

And this wasn't right. 

This wasn't the right date, it didn't make any sense. Tony being in the past did _not_ change things so much that the entire Hydra timeline got moved up by two weeks; he knew that for a fact. He'd been keeping his head so damn low to not draw attention to himself that he might as well have dug a hole in the ground and stepped inside. 

It's not like he knew what he was going to do about it, unwilling to decide if he should interfere or not, but the choice had been taken from him. Steve was somewhere in the ice, and fuck if he knew where. The worst part about all of it was that he didn't know anything was wrong until Peggy, Colonel Phillips, and the remaining Howling Commandos returned to base. 

Tony had gone up to greet them from the return mission. He had a new rifle for Bucky, and he thought he'd be very pleased with the improved aim. Tony _could_ have given him the best damn gun in this century, but it would be too suspicious for him to bust that out like it was no big deal. But he'd fixed up this design for Bucky, and he was pretty damn happy with himself. 

They drove up as part of a truck in a convoy, with Phillips driving. Peggy was in the passenger seat, and the rest of the team would be in the back. All his excitement fell to a buzz when he saw Peggy's expression as she got out. Her expression was subdued, her posture defeated in grief. Phillips was the same, and for a moment Tony assumed the worst-- that somehow he'd screwed things up so badly that the entire team had died. 

Tony walked closer automatically, and the worst of it melted away as he saw the Howlies start to pile out of the back. "What's..." He'd meant to ask 'what's wrong?' but people had stopped getting out of the back of the truck, and they were still missing two people. "Where's Bucky and Steve?" 

"They didn't make it," Peggy said quietly. 

"Make it from what?" Tony asked, because he was still under the impression that the dates he knew were correct. They _had_ to make it back from whatever other missions they had because there was something more important waiting for them. 

"Stark," Phillips said, voice gruff. "I'm sure Agent Carter can fill you in after we debrief." 

"I-" Tony glanced towards her, saw that she didn't have a problem with that, and said, "Okay." They all filed off, and Tony watched them leave, wondering what the hell was going on. 

While they were gone, Tony went to the 'shop and tinkered uselessly as thoughts spun around his head. It took a while, but eventually he found the correct conclusion: the dates he knew were wrong, and he was pretty sure they had always been wrong. He hadn't effected anyone in any significant way other than Peggy, and it's not like Peggy being in a relationship would somehow change the timeline for Hydra and Captain America’s showdown. 

By the time Peggy showed up, Tony was closing everything down for the night. "I guess I'm a bit late," she noted. 

"Don't worry, I won't hold it against you," Tony said, but the usual good humor he had was gone. Steve and Bucky were both missing, and Tony could have done something. Said something. Maybe given them some hope that they'd eventually get found, that they wouldn't die alone, cold and miserable and in pain. "They're dead aren't they?" 

Peggy cleared her throat. "Officially, they're both missing in action. Sergeant Barnes fell from a train hundreds of feet in the air, but no body was recovered because of the ravine. Captain Rogers crash landed a plane, and we've searched for his body, but it's buried under ice." 

"Dead," Tony summarized, even though he knew better. It would be over seventy years before he was found, and there was no point in giving her false hope that he'd be found earlier. Besides, how was he supposed to explain that? _Oh don't worry Peggy, I'm from the future and could've stopped this but I kept it to myself because I thought there was a little more time before I consciously made the decision not to tell you or anybody else. You'll be happy to hear that about seven decades from now Steve will be alive even though yeah, Bucky’s just dead._ Yeah, not fucking likely. 

"Yes." 

Tony took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. He rubbed at his eyes. "Is there anything else official you want to tell me? I was planning on calling it a night." 

"Schmidt is dead. Hydra is defeated, it's a win for the Allied powers." 

"Hooray." 

Peggy nodded, both of them lacking the victorious spirit; that would come later, when the shock of loss wasn't as present. "Would you mind some company?" 

He shook his head. "Not at all." 

People didn't blink at seeing them walking together anymore. With all the work they'd done together, it was more strange to see them separated in this building than not. Still, they made sure to keep up the professional air as they walked to his room, not wanting anyone to draw the correct conclusion about them being together. Peggy had told Steve they were together, but that was it. Phillips probably suspected along with a few others, but now that Steve was gone, technically Tony and Peggy themselves were the only two people now that knew for a fact they were together. 

Tony closed and locked the door, and they both relaxed. As far as safe havens went, this wasn't the best Tony had experienced, but it was what they had. A bed that had seen better days and rough sheets with an itchy blanket. A pillow that was too flat but still a luxury out here. There was a tiny table, so laden with notes and pencils that Tony worried how much more it could take before it all came sliding off and he had to worry which papers went together. It had space for a chair, but Tony didn't have one in here since he did all the important work in the workshop. There was a small dresser right next to it with three small drawers, one of which held items for Peggy since she stayed so often. Tony jokingly thought of it as his contraband drawer, with a little mirror, extra makeup, some makeup removal cream and washcloths, and of course an extra change of clothes if she needed it. 

He rubbed at his face again. This was a mess. Reading about it in the history books and biographies had made it seem so neat. Sure it was war, but the Howling Commandos hadn't really made mistakes. They destroyed Hydra bases with impunity, and even the loss of two team members had seemed knowable. The shell shocked look on all their faces when they'd stepped out of the truck was direct opposition to that. It made sense that they felt that way, and it made Tony want to kick himself for still holding onto an idealized version of events. Of _course_ losing Steve and Bucky had done that to them. Losing Captain America was a shock that none of them had prepared for because he'd seemed larger than life. Tony knew how much tougher Steve could get, and he thought of this version of Steve as clumsy and innocent, but everyone else thought this was the pinnacle. 

"How are you feeling?" 

Peggy didn't answer for a minute, sitting on the bed and taking off her shoes. She stood up to take off her skirt, then sat again as she rolled her stockings off, setting them carefully to the side so they didn't get a run. She started to unbutton her shirt when she spoke, "I don't know. Steve only ever wanted to help people, and now he's gone." A beat. "I was the last person he talked to before he died, and I keep wondering if I could have said something more to make him feel better. Telling him to go dancing with me probably wasn't the last thing he wanted to hear. I don’t even know if he likes dancing." She pulled her arms free of the shirt and set it aside with her other clothes. She sighed, then rearranged the pins in her hair so that it was away from her face, leaving her free to clean off as much of her makeup as she could. 

"I'm not sure what Steve could have been told in that moment to make him feel better. You did the best you could." 

"It wasn't enough." 

Tony said nothing, knowing that there wasn't a thing he could say to comfort her. He sat next to her on the bed and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. 

She paused in wiping at her face and sighed, head hanging in defeat for a moment. Several seconds passed, then she lifted her face and continued to clean the makeup off. "They say the war will be coming to an end soon." 

"Don't they always say that?" 

"I'm not talking about privates, I'm talking about the generals. Schmidt was Hitler's last real chance to win the war, and now he's dead, all his weapons lost or in Allied hands." 

"Germany's done for," Tony agreed, "but you never know if someone else will decide to jump in." 

"I suppose so, but it feels rather stupid to join the losing side while they're an inch from defeat." 

"I never said these people are smart." 

Peggy smiled halfheartedly, screwing the lid back on the cream and putting it in her drawer. "I think," she said slowly, "what I'm asking is where are you going when the war's done?" She gave a pointed tug on Tony's shirt, so he started to undress. 

"I don't know." And he really really didn't. He'd worked on one plan for getting back home that had looked promising, but it needed a major energy source. The arc reactor wasn't enough for it that's how big it needed to be. The tesseract would be enough, but he had no idea when Howard would find it in the ocean. It might be a month from now, or hell it could be _years_. Tony didn't know, he couldn't even venture a guess for how this was going to go. But that's not what Peggy was asking about, so he said, "Go back to the States probably. Help Howard out where he needs it." 

"Ah." Peggy nodded slowly, like she was digesting that. "Would you ever consider living in Britain? It's not so bad once you get used to it." 

Surprised, Tony looked over at her. "You want me to go to Britain with you?" 

"If... you want." 

_Of course I want to_ , Tony thought immediately. There wasn't actually anything for him in the USA right now. No friends, no obligations... all he'd be leaving behind was Howard and his only chance of getting home. "I-" _can't_ , he started to say, then stopped. Rhodey already had his own Iron Man suit, and between him and Jarvis they could keep it maintained and upgraded as they needed. He could stay in the past without fucking over... pretty much anyone in the future. Rhodey would have Iron Man so the team wouldn't be losing anything, and Pepper already had the company so everything was taken care of there. His will was up to date, so it's not like Obie's grave would be getting a shit ton of money or anything. He wanted to say yes, but the fact that he was from the future was a pretty damn big secret. "There's a lot you don't know about me." 

Peggy sighed. "This again. I told you that I don't care. It hasn't effected us yet, why would it be a problem now?" 

Tony took off his shirt, then folded it just to give his hands something to do. "I'm going to show you something," he decided impulsively, "and I need you not to panic." 

"Why would I panic?" 

Tony just raised an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes, clearly thinking that he was being overdramatic. 

"I promise." 

"Great." His hand went to the center of his chest where the holo-film was covering the arc reactor. His fingers scrabbled for a moment, then caught and he pulled it away. 

Peggy startled, leaning back for a moment automatically. Then she paused, narrowed her eyes, and leaned closer. "Is that in your chest?" 

"Yes." 

"How can you breathe?" 

"Not very easily." 

"How are you _alive_?" 

"A good question, but I don't have an answer for you. I kinda failed to die, and here I am." 

Her hand tentatively quested out, her fingertips making contact with the shell of the arc reactor. "Does it hurt?" 

"No." 

She nodded absently, fingers going to trace the metal rim where it connected to his skin. He shivered at the touch, and she paused. "Tony, where did you get this? And how were you hiding it?" she asked, eyes glancing down to the thin material waterfalling in his hand. "Is this the same technology Hydra had? It's far more advanced than anything we have." 

"God no, not Hydra. It's-" Tony rubbed at the back of his neck "-complicated." 

Her hand flattened against his chest, just over his heart and right next to the arc reactor. "I'm not going anywhere." 

"Not yet." 

She frowned, leaning back slightly. "What's that supposed to mean?" 

"I'm from the future," he said. "I got sent back in an accident, and I'm trying not to screw things up too badly." 

Peggy blinked, hand dropping from where she'd been touching him. "The future?" 

He nodded, reaching for the arc reactor and clicking it out. He'd be good for a few minutes without it, so showing her wouldn't be the disaster that it had been with Obadiah. He held it towards her, tilting it this way and that. "I don't know how good of a look you got at Hydra's weapons, but the only thing this has in common with them is a blue glow." 

"This is technology," she said, and Tony nodded. "Hydra's was magic?" 

He clicked the arc reactor back in his chest. "I don't know if it was magic, but it definitely isn't technology from Earth." 

"From Earth," she repeated. "Are there aliens in the future?" 

Tony opened his mouth to answer, then paused, making a face as he considered. "Sort of, but it's not how you're thinking." 

"It isn't?" she asked doubtfully. 

Tony shrugged, looking at her curiously. "You're taking this pretty well. You haven't called me insane or said that I'm delusional." 

She motioned to the arc reactor. "You make a rather compelling argument." She ran a hand through her hair as if she was feeling self-conscious, but that seemed unlikely given how confident she was. "How far in the future were you?" 

"I don't think I should say." 

"What harm could it do?" 

"I don't know, but I have a pretty good imagination. I'm not going to risk it." 

"Did you know about Steve?" she asked, then shook her head. "Sorry." She sighed, leaning her side into his. "I guess... you knew this relationship had an end date." 

That right there was what he'd been trying to avoid thinking about, and he wasn't afraid to say so. "I tried not to think about it. And in my defense," he added, "I did try to tell you it was a bad idea." 

"You did. Do you know me in the future? Or have you heard of me?" 

"Heard of you," he said, since there didn't seem to be any harm in admitting that. 

"And?" 

"What part of 'might be a bad idea' are you missing," he teased, pressing a kiss to the top of her hair. 

"Oh fine. I have to admit Tony, I don't know what you expect for me to do with this. Are you leaving soon? Is that why you're telling me?" 

"No- well," he amended immediately, "I don't know how long it'll be before I go back. I figured out a way to do it-" he was pretty sure "-but I don't have enough power so I'm back to square one." 

"The cube." 

"Hm?" 

"The cube that Hydra had, that was powering their weapons, would that be powerful enough?" 

"Yes, but it's not like we have it." 

"That's a problem for later. It'll be easier to find the cube than to come up with an entirely new plan to get you back." 

"Probably," Tony said, putting the holo-film back over the arc reactor. The room dimmed without the extra glow, and he couldn't read Peggy's expression. "Are you alright?" 

"Are you going to finish getting undressed?" she asked, shifting her weight off of him so she was sitting straight. 

"I'm not sure you've finished yourself," he said, but he took off his shoes and stood up to undo the belt and trousers. 

He kept his boxers on until he turned and saw that Peggy had shucked off her bra and panties, then he pushed them down and pulled back the blanket. Peggy climbed in first, and Tony turned off the light before following, throwing an arm over her waist to get more comfortable. 

The room was quiet as their breathing aligned and tiredness came over them. "I love you," he said quietly. He swallowed and added, "I don't want to leave you." 

Peggy didn't say anything. At first, he thought she was asleep-- which was honestly half the reason he'd said it, was so that maybe he could experience it without her actually hearing-- but then her hand moved to cover his own, and she squeezed. 

* * *

Tony woke in the middle of the night to Peggy shifting. She climbed over him to the edge of the bed. "Mm?" Tony asked incomprehensibly. "'s wrong?" 

"Nothing," she whispered. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, go back to sleep." 

"'re you goin'?" 

"Just stretching." 

Tony nodded, relaxing into the mattress, but he also knew that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep until she had returned. 

It was a quiet few minutes while she stretched her arms and went up on her tiptoes, rocking back and forth. He heard her yawn, and then the mattress dipped as she crawled back in. This time when she got settled, she was facing him. 

"Do I go on to do anything important?" she asked. "I'm not trying to ruin the future or anything, but." 

"But?" 

She ignored that prompting. "You said you've heard of me, but if I did anything too big, you would've stayed away, right?" 

"Peggy." 

"I love you too," she said, and whatever protests Tony had, died in the next breath. "I want to go to the future with you." 

"You- what?" 

"You can't stay here, and you said you don't want to leave me. So don't, bring me with you." 

"I'm not sure I can." 

One of Peggy's hands came up to cover the part of his chest where the arc reactor was. "I've done what I need to here, what's the harm in it?" 

"I want to, Peggy," he breathed, pulling her closer. God did he want to. "But I'm not sure I _can_." 

"...oh." 

He kissed the top of her head and planned to keep it at that, but Peggy tilted her head up and kissed him deeper. Tony sunk into it, loving the comfortable familiarity they had with each other. Peggy scooted closer, pressing their bodies together, and Tony's cock gave an interested twitch and started to fill. She made a noise high in her throat and pushed a little so that Tony was on his back and she was laying on top of him. 

"God," Tony said, hands going up to wrap around and touch her upper back. 

"Tony," she moaned, fisting a hand in his hair and kissing him so hard it would probably bruise. She started moving her hips, sliding along Tony's length as he got harder. 

Peggy moved her mouth to his neck, kissing and nipping at the sensitive skin. "Did you get more condoms?" 

Tony opened his mouth to answer, then had to bite down on his lip so he didn't make too loud a noise. He took a few measured breaths, then said, "Yes." 

"Mm excellent." She kissed her way back up his neck, along his jaw until she was at his mouth again. She kissed him chastely once, twice, then a third lingering time. She sat up and opened the drawer, feeling around blindly for them. "Oh my god," she said, clearly annoyed. "I can't buggering find them." She was prepared to rip everything out of the drawer to find them when something occurred to her. "Does that... thing in your chest always glow?" 

"It's an arc reactor," he said automatically. "Yeah it does. Why?" 

"Would you mind, y'know, showing it so I can find a bleeding condom?" 

"Sure. You're going to want to cover your eyes." 

She did so. 

"Ready?" 

"Yes." 

A moment later, a bright light filled the room, and Peggy automatically squeezed her eyes together harder. Carefully, she moved her hand down, peeking through her eyelashes. "Thanks," she said. 

"Mmhmm," Tony said, bundling the piece of fabric in his hand while he waited. 

Now that there was some light, it was easy to find the condoms, and she pulled one out of the tin, straightening once more. 

"You're gorgeous," Tony murmured, barely aware that words were leaving his mouth as his eyes traced her body. Parts of her that he knew so well, both from his hands and his mouth, looked different in this lighting. There was nothing overhead, no sunlight, just the blue light emanating from the arc reactor. 

Peggy blushed slightly, even though it was something she'd heard dozens of times-- many of them from Tony himself. Maybe it was the intense, focused way he was looking at her, or maybe it was that a few hours ago they'd confessed to being in love for the first time. 

"One second, let me-" he started to put the holo-film back over the arc reactor, but Peggy stopped him, her fingers encircling his wrist. He looked up at her in confusion. 

"Leave it off." 

"We could turn on the light," Tony suggested. 

"And have someone knock on the door asking why you're up at-" she glanced at the clock and made a face "-three in the bloody morning? I'd rather not deal with it." 

"Okay," Tony chuckled, setting the fabric on the dresser. 

For now, Peggy set the condom on the bed and picked up one of Tony's hands, leading it to cover her breast. He took the hint, kneading and massaging the skin. "You're good at that," she said, leaning her head back so her hair all ran behind her. It also felt like putting herself on display, but it was only Tony there to see. 

"I try." Tony put his other hand on her thigh, running it up and down her leg.


	4. Back To The Future

Peggy had seen Howard more now than she had the entire time the war had been on. He did most of the research for the team, Tony took care of the gear like he'd been doing before, and Peggy and the rest of the Howlies were the guns. They were trying to weed out the rest of Hydra before they left, not that Tony or Peggy had mentioned that to the rest of the group. Howard because Tony didn't trust him with it, and the rest of them because, well, why would they bother? It wasn't like with Peggy, where she would be able to go with him, and they were perfectly happy with their lives as they were. 

"You know what you're doing, right?" Dum Dum asked as Peggy typed away on the computer. 

"More than you do," she muttered. But actually, now that he brought it up, no she didn't quite know what she was doing. For that, she blamed Tony since he hadn't told her what she was bloody _looking_ _for_. 

An alarm went off, and the computer shut itself down. 

"No no no- _shit_." 

"You didn't get it?" 

"No, bloody stupid piece of plastic," she hissed, banging her hand on the keyboard in frustration. "Tony will have to deal with getting nothing." 

They started jogging down the corridor, but Dum Dum took the time to say, "I'm sure seeing you again will keep him in a good mood." 

"Shut it." 

Dum Dum smiled wider, but he didn't say anything else, and really that's all she could hope for. 

* * *

Peggy was drinking with the boys when it finally happened. Tony tapped her on the shoulder, and she looked up. "Yes?" 

"Can I talk to you alone for a second?" 

"Of course." She finished the last couple swallows of her drink and set the empty glass on the table, getting to her feet and following Tony to the empty wall of the bar. "What is it?" 

"Howard finally found it." 

"The cube?" 

"Yeah. We'll be able to sneak in and use it tomorrow afternoon. Last chance." 

She raised an eyebrow. "Last chance to what? Back out? Stay behind knowing that I could've had everything I ever wanted?" Tony didn't have to answer for her to know what he meant by it. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm with you for the rest of my life? No matter where or _when_ that is, I'm with you. I know you know that Tony, trust it-- trust _me_." She stared into his eyes, and he stared back. Neither of them said anything for a moment, and it was clear that Tony regretted questioning her again. She accepted the silent apology easily. "And there are worse places to go than the future," she added with a quirk of her lips. 

Tony snorted, leaning against the wall now that the serious part was over. "Are you kidding? This place is definitely worse than the future. No internet, no Jarvis, and no Thai food when I get a craving in the middle of the night. Going back is going to be nothing short of heaven." 

"I'm sure I'll feel the same," she said, smile growing. She'd barely _heard_ of Thailand; she wondered how she'd feel about their food when Tony had a craving and dragged her along for the ride. 

"Go finish your drink, I'll see you tonight." 

She nodded, and he made an aborted move, like he was going to kiss her then remembered that they were in public. It wouldn't matter for much longer, but they were keeping this close to their chests. A small part of Peggy was worried that Tony's plan wouldn't work out and they'd live out the rest of their lives here, but it was so small a feeling that it barely existed; a piece of anxiety that came before any big decision. 

* * *

Tony was setting things up, a small but intricate device that he could hold in both hands, out with wires connected to the pulsating cube. Peggy was standing there nervously, wishing there was some way she could help, but she knew that it was useless to even offer. She thought of herself as being well versed in technology-- she'd had to be, to keep up with Hydra-- but this was well beyond her understanding. 

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed before Tony was turning to her, expression expectant, but it had definitely taken longer than that. "Ready?" 

Peggy took a deep breath and walked to stand next to him. "I won't be left behind?" 

"With the modifications I made, you shouldn't be." 

"But it's possible." 

Tony swallowed, and she could tell that he found that idea as frightening as she did. "Yes. Highly improbable though, and as long as we're touching when it activates, we should be fine." 

Uncertainty churned in her gut, but she gave a stiff nod. "I'm ready." 

Tony held the device in one hand, wires linking it to the cube, and with the other he reached down and grabbed Peggy's hand, squeezing tightly. There wasn't anything as obvious as pushing a button, but he activated it, and all Peggy could see for several seconds was a too-bright blue light that washed out everything else. It built up, getting impossibly brighter and brighter until it whited out her vision and pushed them over the edge. She felt a jerk around her middle like she'd been kicked, and she fell to her knees, knowing from holding Tony's hand that the same had happened to him. 

It only took a minute for both of them to catch their breath, and when they got to their feet, it was clear that they weren't where they had started. Howard's lab, while state of the art, had been _nothing_ compared to this. Towering buildings surrounded them, and so many cars were going by it felt like her ears were going to overflow. She couldn't see them yet, but the air felt different here. _Smelled_ different. 

"Did it work?" she asked, because she needed to make sure. 

Tony was looking around, but they couldn't see much tucked away in the alley like they were. "Probably. C'mon, let's take a look around. Worse case scenario is I transported us." He paused. "Scratch that, worst case scenario is that this is the afterlife, and I don't know about you, but I expected more from mine than regular New York." 

"If this is the afterlife, I'm going to kill you just to see if it gets me anywhere," she lied. 

"My dear, feel free to do so. Hopefully it'll get us both out of this mess." They cleared the mouth of the alley, and Tony grinned as he looked around. "Yep, this is it." 

Peggy's eyes widened. Six lanes (six!) of traffic, cars going far quicker than they should have been able. The shapes were bizarrely different though familiar, and even though it felt louder, she could now discern that each car was quieter than it should have been. The buildings were the wrong style, the color schemes off just so. It was unsettling, but she glanced at Tony, saw how well he was reacting, and took a deep breath; she could do this, if only because she'd survived far worse. 

"You feeling okay?" he asked. 

She gave a sharp nod, and while Tony looked at her for a few more moments like he didn't believe her, he said nothing. "Do you know where we are?" 

Tony shrugged easily. "Pretty sure. We go that way-" he pointed left "-and we should be heading for the tower." They started walking, Peggy trying to keep her eyes averted from what she assumed was the usual way of being dressed, but felt far too casual for her-- she couldn't imagine walking around public in something that showed that much skin and was so thin, but luckily that _wasn't her_. Not to say that there wasn't variety (because there was), but on the whole, it seemed like she would be wearing far more than these people did on an every day occasion. 

"Tower?" she asked. 

"Didn't I tell you? I'm pretty fucking rich-" 

"So you own a tower?" 

"I own a tower that doubles as a home for myself and the team, and an office building for workers of the company." 

"You... live in an office building?" 

"It sounds weird when you say it like that Peggy. You'll see, it's great. You know, we never really talked about you getting your own place, but I'll pay for it if you want. Or you can have a separate room in the tower, it makes no difference to me." 

Peggy wanted to roll her eyes, because it was pretty damn obvious that her decision would make a difference to him, nothing like the apathy he was attempting to convey right now. Didn't he know by now that he couldn't lie to her? She couldn't lie to him either, and she'd told him over and over that she was going to be with him for the rest of her life. Seeing a couple weird looking cars wasn't going to change that. "I've wanted for us to live together almost as soon as we had sex. If anything, this relationship has been moving a lot slower than I would like." 

"Aw, are you gonna make an honest man out of me? No one's really tried before, but good luck, I believe you can do it." 

"Of course I can," she grinned. 

They kept walking, but Tony didn't correct their course at all. Going the right way was nice, even if she felt a touch overwhelmed and had no idea which was correct and which one wasn't. Peggy shuffled a little closer to his side, and without further prompting, Tony put an arm around her shoulders while they walked. It was awkward to be walking like that, but once they aligned their steps it got easier. 

"That's it up there," Tony said, pointing at a large, glass building. 

"You live there?" Peggy asked again. 

" _We_ live there." 

The future was _weird_. Glass buildings that doubled as offices and apartment buildings. She wasn't sure she liked it, but it was far too late to back out-- not that she would now even if it were possible. The time to back out would've been before she surprised herself and fell in love. Fell in love with a man from the future. God, her life was playing out in the strangest ways. If her mother could see her now... well, she wouldn't have anything nice to say about it, and that was why Peggy hadn’t spoken to her in years. "This is going to take some getting used to." 

He gave her shoulders a squeeze. "You'll be fine, just like I was back in the forties. God I can't believe I actually survived that, I wasn't sure I'd ever live without the internet a second time." 

"Internet?" she asked. He'd mentioned that word before, but she hadn't bothered to ask. 

"I'll explain once we get to the tower, it's kinda hard to explain without a way to show you." 

"Give me the basics of it." 

"It's not like-" Tony stopped, rubbing at his eyes with his free hand. Peggy had a similar inclination with the sun glaring off so many buildings the way it was. "It's uh, like if I had a book that I wanted to show you but you were in Britain when I was here? I'd be able to talk to you, and you could search for it instead of me giving it to you. It’s about being able to communicate quickly and share ideas just as easily. That's... the basics. Sort of." Fucking hell he was _not_ a teacher and there was a reason for that. "It's good, you'll like it." 

"I'm sure I will," she said, and as a bonus, it didn't even sound like she was humoring him. 

Peggy felt like she was part of some bizarre skit, about to be kicked out of the fancy lobby as soon as they walked in the doors. That didn't happen. Instead, a receptionist-- sitting behind the largest desk Peggy had ever seen-- glanced up, then looked back to whatever that thing in front of her was. "Hello Mister Stark, nice to see you again." 

"Hey Rita, how's the boyfriend?" Tony asked conversationally. 

"Cheating, probably," she said, not sounding bothered by that in the slightest. 

"Why haven't you dumped him?" 

"I find his excuses amusing. Plus he buys me Italian every weekend, I'm not willing to give that up." 

"Whatever makes you happy," Tony said with a shrug, and she nodded. 

"Have a good day, Mister Stark." 

"You too." 

They walked to the lift, and the ride up was a lot smoother than she'd expected. It was also a lot longer because seriously, how many bloody floors did a place need to have? She said as much to Tony, but all he did was tell her that there were buildings with twice as many so it was nothing to worry about. Peggy just sort of stared at him incredulously. "No offense, Tony, but this is all going to take some getting used to. I can worry as much as I bloody well please." 

They finally got to the top floor-- where they were going to live/Tony had lived before. It looked rather similar to the lobby: glass everywhere and a certain metal quality to the framing that she didn't know if she liked or hated. Not to be too judgmental, but she was leaning more towards hating it-- and that might have to do with the headache the reflecting sun had given her and not the building itself. 

Natasha was the first one they saw, and she turned from cursing out her phone to staring over at them with a carefully blank expression. "You were missing for four hours, and you show up with no beard and a woman from the thirties? We were worried about you, but maybe we shouldn't have been." 

"Forties, actually," Tony corrected, grinning widely. "Only four hours though? Really?" 

Nat started to frown, a tiny little thing, just a downturn at the corners of her mouth and a little line between her eyebrows. "How long were you gone?" 

"Two years," Tony said with a shrug that affected carelessness, but it was obvious to Peggy that he was uncomfortable. She didn't exactly know _why_ , but he was. Not that she couldn't see the beginnings of it, experiencing two years to someone else's mere hours. 

"And who's this?" she asked, looking to Peggy. 

"Margaret Carter," she answered. "SSR." 

"Shield," Natasha said, which made no sense to Peggy, but it did to Tony because he nodded. 

"It's what the SSR turned into," Tony told her. "This is Natasha Romanoff, we're on the Avengers team together. Yes she's Russian, but we're all friendly right now. Well, we're friendly with her and that's what counts. Can we skip the little reunion? I haven't had a good shower since I left." 

"You've had plenty of showers," Peggy said. 

"I have, but- you'll see what I mean." 

"Did I get signed up for a shower as well?" 

"You don't have to, but that's what I'm going to be doing. Nat," he said as he started taking off a direction, "tell the team that I'm back safe and sound." For lack of any better ideas, Peggy followed him. 

"I wouldn't go that far, your beard's gone," she called after them. 

"Casualty of war!" 

Once they were out of the room, Natasha cocked her head to the side. "Jarvis, did you recognize her?" 

"Peggy Carter, World War Two, SSR." He pulled up pictures and files in front of her, a little video clip playing of her next to Captain America as they pored over a map. 

"Someone else can tell Steve," she muttered. She tapped out a message to the other Avengers that let them know Tony was back, no medical required. Being a woman in the SSR in the forties... Nat couldn't even imagine; it was hard enough being in Shield in the twenty-first century. 

* * *

Tony felt unfamiliar in the home he'd painstakingly designed. It wasn't a good feeling. He'd missed so many goddamn things about the present, but now that he was finally back, he was out of sync with them. Peggy looked at his bathroom with wide eyes, her mouth slightly ajar. That was probably going to happen a lot now that they were here. "This is your personal washroom? It's enormous!" 

"It's yours too, if that helps." 

Numbly, she shook her head. "This is unreal." 

"You keep looking if you want, I'm gonna get in there," he said, gesturing to the shower stall. He turned on the water then started undressing, dropping the old clothes on the floor. Now that he was back home, it felt like the material was too rough. He wouldn't keep them, but why would he? An old style cheap suit had no use for him now that he had a wardrobe he actually liked. 

Peggy started unbuttoning her shirt, then paused. "Do you have clothes I can use?" 

"Yeah. If nothing I have works, we can always ask Natasha until we have a chance to go shopping. Uh, that reminds me. Steve's okay. He got found a few years back. He's on the team so you'll get to see him again." 

"Steve's here?" Peggy asked, eyes lighting with excitement. 

Tony nodded, smiling automatically at her mood. 

"And he's happy?" 

"As far as I can tell. I'm sure he'll be happy to have someone else around that's been through the same thing. It'll probably be good for you too." 

"If you say so," Peggy said. 

Tony thought it was hilarious when she said that, because it always meant that she was doubtful but trusted that he wasn't lying to her. He tested the water with his hand, then stepped inside when he felt how warm it was. He let out a soft breath as the water fell over him. The forties didn't have good plumbing, and the shower here was better than anything else currently on the planet. He'd missed this. The small comforts were the ones that had just about killed him as time went on. Yeah he missed his tech and his bots like a limb had been hacked off, but things like showers and clothing and food had been like a pebble in his shoe; he couldn't get used to it no matter how hard he'd tried, and it threw off his entire rhythm. 

A minute later, Peggy joined him, hair pins on the counter and clothes in a pile on the floor with Tony's. Tony reached past her and closed the door so that the hot air wouldn't escape. "Oh wow," Peggy breathed once she got under the shower head. 

"See? The future's great." 

"You're not kidding," she mumbled, tilting her head back. They were quiet for a bit, Tony rubbing shampoo into her hair for her since she didn't look inclined to move from under the shower head. "Does that friend of yours have makeup I can use?" 

"You know, you don't have to wear makeup. Natasha wasn't wearing any earlier, it's not a requirement anymore." 

Peggy frowned, trying to parse out whether or not that was something he'd lie about for fun. Probably not, especially since it was true that Natasha hadn't been wearing any. "This place is weird." 

"You'll get used to it." 

"That doesn't make it any less weird." 

Tony chuckled, reaching for the conditioner. "I was serious about you talking with Steve. He's had to deal with all these changes before, he's the only one that's going to understand. He probably knows everything that's going to surprise you, too. I have no idea, this is home for me." 

"Even though I've known that for a while, I'm not sure I truly believed it until we got here. The arc reactor..." she said, tapping his chest where it was still hidden, "it was different but it was almost familiar. None of this is the same." She sighed again, this time in aggravation. "I don't know. It feels different now." 

"Bad different?" 

"It's not good or bad, it's just different. Not one way or the other. It'll take getting used to." 

The rest of the shower was spent mostly quiet, sharing the occasional comment about how good the hot water felt or explaining different items lining the shelves. "Ready to face the music?" 

"I don't know what that's supposed to mean for me," Peggy said. She looked awfully comfortable standing under the still-hot water even though she was about to start pruning. To be honest, Tony felt the same way. He didn't want to leave, because leaving meant reacquainting himself with every single part of the life he'd thought he left behind. For all he'd hoped about getting back to his own time, there had been a niggling thought in the back of his mind, that maybe he wouldn't make it back-- maybe he'd have to stay there the rest of his life and live out his years pretending he didn't know certain things that were going to happen. It had been bad enough dealing with that when they were taking out the remnants of Hydra after the end of the war, but if he walked out there, saw Natasha again, saw everyone else... it was going to make it real. The shower had been the kick start for Peggy to truly realize the situation, and seeing the team was going to be that for Tony, he knew it. 

"Well, mostly it means that you get to deal with Steve and his giant hugs." Not that Steve had ever hugged him, but Peggy and Steve had been awfully close before he went missing. Peggy was a tactile person when she wasn't in business mode, so surely Steve knew that and would act accordingly. Also she was kinda the only person he had available to him from his past, and there was no way he wouldn't get emotional about that. "But after that you get to pat my back and tell me it's okay while I'm trying not to freak the fuck out." 

Peggy reached a hand up and pat his shoulder. "There, there." 

Tony laughed, leaning down for a quick kiss. "Are you sure you're ready to deal with this? I could get us a night to rest and process this a little more. Before they start really beating us over the head with questions." 

"Beating _you_ over the head with questions," Peggy corrected. They were in this together, but it was important to her that Tony understood she was mostly in the background for this. "I'll be right by your side, with no bloody idea of what's going on." 

"You'll... vaguely know," Tony muttered. He extended his arm and turned off the water. "I'm hating this already," he griped. 

"I'm sure it'll get better," she said, hoping that it was true. 

"Good to know you believe in me." 

Peggy didn't reply as Tony handed her the fluffiest towel she'd ever laid eyes on. _If I believed in you any less_ , she thought, _I wouldn't be here_. She'd never been a religious person. She didn't really know what it was like to believe in a higher power. The first thing she'd truly believed in was the goodness in Steve's heart. The second was Tony and his will. In her experience, everything he put his mind to, he could do. Maybe it was only a few things he felt that strongly about, but they were impossible to her. "Is all material this soft?" 

"Definitely not. My clothes, and soon to be your clothes? Yes. Well," he amended, "I'm not as sure about Natasha's clothes. But once we get you your own wardrobe, you'll be fine." 

"That's the best news you've ever given me," she said, wrapping the towel around her like a blanket. 

"I think it can only go up from here then, hon." 

"Hon?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow his direction. With her accent, the pet name sounded pretty shitty. Not to speak bad of her accent, just the pet name itself. 

"No good?" 

"It's a little weird." 

"Damn." Like he couldn't help himself, Tony kissed her again. "I'll find something that works. There are tons of cutesy nicknames. You should ask Rhodey when you meet him, he has lots of griping to do about my nicknames." 

"Is his name actually Rhodey or is that a nickname?" 

"It's both, mostly his name." 

"So it's a nickname," she surmised, and it kind of sucked that she knew him this well, except for the part where it didn't suck at all. He couldn't help but grin automatically at it. 

"Siding against me already," Tony said, shaking his head. "What is the world coming to?" 

"Shouldn't you be the one answering that? You've been here before, I haven't." 

"Psh, that doesn't mean anything, I'm as clueless as you are," he said, a blatant lie. Peggy decided to let it go as Tony opened the door, and she followed him out into the massive bedroom. 

"You sleep here? Everyday?" 

"Just about." 

"And now I get to sleep here everyday. I am going to be so spoilt I won't be able to see my own feet." 

* * *

Steve was staring, some mixture of hope and disbelief on his face. His eyes went between Peggy and Tony, sometimes stuck on one of them for a long moment before snapping to the other, and sometimes he looked between them rapidly like if he tried hard enough he could look at both of them in the exact same moment. 

Peggy was the one to break the silent stand-off, tremulous smile on her face. "Hi Steve. Missed having you around camp to disobey orders and make my life more difficult." 

Steve laughed, sounding a little watery, and he stepped forward, scooping her into a hug that lifted her off her feet. Peggy just smiled, hugging him back tightly. Apparently Steve realized that he had two arms and there were two of them, because he dropped Peggy to her feet then reeled Tony in. It had been a good decision to call him to them instead of doing this in front of the entire team. "I thought I was going crazy," he murmured. "I woke up and you looked like him, but- you didn't recognize me." 

"Sorry Cap," Tony said. His and Peggy's arms were bumping and trying to slot around each other on Steve's back as they hugged. The unfortunate truth was that humans weren't built for three-way hugs. If God was real, he better be ready when Tony died because he had a list of things he wanted to discuss. "All fixed up now. If you ever try to get on to me for not following your orders in the field..." 

Steve chuckled. "Let me guess, I don't have a leg to stand on?" 

"Yep." 

There was a long moment where they all stayed there unmoving before releasing each other. "Your accent's different," Steve said wistfully, looking at Tony. 

"What? My voice is the same it's always been." 

Steve shook his head. "More New York than you had before you went back. This morning you sounded different." 

"This morning was a long time ago." Two years. Tony couldn't possibly remember what his accent had sounded like from that long ago, mostly because he still thought his voice sounded the same now as it did then. 

"Yeah. Guess it was," Steve said. There was still that glimmer in his eye like he was seeing a ghost but was happy about it. It was weird to have that directed at him, but he actually understood it for once. "It's good to have you back. Both of you. Never thought that would happen." And then they were hugging again. Tony wasn't usually the most touchy-feely person around, but he could make an exception since there'd been a lot of time travel in one day (for the modern day, not him or Peggy). "You're staying right?" he muttered, as if there were any doubt. 

"Of course," she said, and he squeezed a little bit tighter. He knew how to watch his strength so they weren't in any danger, but for a second there was the instinctual worry of cracked ribs. 

"Not going anywhere?" 

"Maybe dinner," Tony allowed. If they took the entire team out, that would give Peggy a taste of actually good food at the same time she met the team. 

* * *

Natasha and Clint were staring at her intently. "You're Peggy Carter," Clint said. 

"Yes," she said, shooting Tony a confused glance. To be perfectly honest, he didn't understand what they were doing either. 

" _The_ Peggy Carter," Natasha added. 

Her brow furrowed. "I... suppose? I don't know what you're thinking of." 

"From World War Two. Carter ran the SSR, which got turned into SHIELD. It's the biggest intelligence agency in the world," Natasha said. 

That only made her frown deepen. "I was a _part_ of the SSR, yes, but Colonel Phillips was the one in charge." 

"Yeah I'm sure the precious Colonel was real involved," Clint said drily. "The raids on all those Hydra bases-" 

"Were based on Steve's intel and carried out by the Howling Commandos. My involvement was minor." 

They both blinked at her, clearly not believing the party line. Tony hid his grin behind his water, absolutely loving it. Peggy had worked her ass off making sure the SSR operations went smoothly and that the entire organization was doing its job. Not that she'd been allowed to take any of the credit or officially have the seat as Director, but she'd been the one with all the power back then. Not that anyone knew that since she hadn't lived to talk about it herself-- unless they were a World War Two buff that cared about the little details and not which gun was used in which stupid battle. Tony had thought it was weird when he was little, that one day she had vanished. He'd asked Edwin Jarvis about it, and that poor man had had the responsibility of explaining what 'missing, presumed dead' meant. And back then, they jumped from 'presumed dead' to 'declared dead' fairly quickly. Less than a year after Peggy Carter went missing, she'd been declared dead. 

Declared dead in the forties, and she was about to come back to life seventy years later. Getting Steve the proper documents had taken time since Captain America was technically public domain, but it shouldn't be half as hard to get Peggy sorted. 

"So let me get this straight," Clint said, pointing at her with a half-eaten eggroll, "you were involved with the original Howling Commandos and Captain America line up, and you still ended up with Tony." 

"Screw you, birdbrain, I'm a catch." 

"Maybe with the beard you were. Seriously, it's like looking a baby version of you, what the hell happened? Besides, I was talking to the lady." He turned back to Peggy expectantly. 

She shrugged, glancing at Tony and smiling. "He was interesting. Talked to me like an equal instead of someone beneath him." 

Clint and Natasha both made a face. "Tony? Tony Stark?" 

Peggy raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" 

"Acting like he's not better than someone?" Clint added. 

"Don't be rude," Steve chided. "Tony's nice, he's just not nice to _you_." 

"I don't know why you bothered to ask if you weren't going to believe me," Peggy said, turning back to her food.


	5. Epilogue

Bucky had been the Winter Soldier, under Hydra control for decades. Decades that Steve had been on ice for and that Peggy had skipped in the span of twenty seconds. Steve and Peggy were the closest to understanding what he was going through, and even they had no idea. 

Steve and Tony were off somewhere yelling at each other. Or maybe they were yelling at someone _else_ together. Both were equally likely. Which left Peggy and Bucky together, with the Avengers doing their separate day jobs or whatever they were calling it. 

Peggy made tea, half appreciative to have it and half horrified at how much it had cost. The tea set was 'vintage' which meant she had used it a few years ago before the war had started. Well okay, maybe it wasn't exactly like the one she'd used since this was porcelain and handpainted by some famous artist that had Tony scratching at his head nonchalantly as he said that Pepper told him that the guy was incredible-- sold for millions (millions!) and shit like that. It was an entire service, cups, trays, and of course the sugar and cream bowls. All of them a delicate, shining white overlaid with blue flowers. She felt like she was going to break them if she set it on the table too hard, so she couldn't imagine how Bucky felt when he touched them. 

It wasn't until she finished filling the cup with tea from the pot that she realized Bucky might not like tea; it's not as though they talked about taste in beverages during the war. Come to think of it, she and Bucky had never talked about... anything. He'd always been around and she felt like she had spent so much time with him, but when it got down to it, she didn't really know him. Looking back, it's because he'd always been around when Steve was also around. She had spent ample time with Steve in private, but when Bucky had been in the room, it was because Steve was too. 

"I er- won't be offended if you don't like it," she said, setting the pot down and rounding the table to her own seat. "It was to keep me busy, that's all." Peggy added too much cream and no sugar, stirred it together, then sipped. 

Bucky very gingerly picked up the cup and blew on it. Steam went billowing away, and he sipped. He had dark circles under his eyes and a haunted look, lanky hair hanging around his cheeks, and stubble lining his jaw. He looked like a homeless person, and he was sipping at her tea with the most careful grip in the entire world. He set it back down, wincing at the clink it made against the saucer. "You and Tony," he said. His voice was scratchy, not with disuse, more like he was choking down emotion so often that he couldn't speak in an even tone anymore. His accent was gone, too. He definitely still had an American accent, but it was missing the New York draw she was used to hearing from him. This was flatter. More neutral. Like Hydra had choked his personality out of him and even though he'd remembered Steve enough to come back, he wasn't quite himself yet. 

But anyways, her and Tony. The first thing he'd said to her, and it was about her and Tony. "Yes." 

"I thought you liked women." 

Peggy blinked. She... had never thought about it, to be quite honest. "I can't say it's something I considered." 

"You didn't seem interested in men." 

"That's because they failed to treat me equally. Or with the barest amount of respect." 

"Yes. Women," he said, like the answer was obvious. 

Peggy smirked. "Perhaps in another life I would have gone that route, but since Tony showed up when he did, here I am." She toasted the statement with her teacup, then took another drink. "Steve knew." 

Bucky snorted, then seemed surprised by it. He startled himself out of immediately replying, but it only took him a few seconds to get it back together. "Steve never knew anything about romantic relationships, how could he know when I didn't?" 

"I told him." 

"You should have led with that." 

"It was funnier this way." Another drink, then she set it down, folding her hands on the table so she didn't rub at her face. Tony had found 'old style' makeups, but she swore they felt different; she wasn't used to them yet. "I guess you're tired of people asking how you are." 

He nodded. 

"Well, is there anything you'd like to talk about while we have the time?" 

"Is Steve seeing anyone?" 

Peggy blinked. All the things he could have asked about, and that was near the bottom of the list. Every time she saw a new piece of technology she interrogated Tony until she felt she understood it, and she’d thought Bucky would ask something more along those lines. Although, it must be different for him since he'd been isolated only for a handful of years over his time in their hands. "I don't believe so. Why?" 

Bucky gave a grunt that told her nothing. 

"Bucky." 

He put off answering her in favor of drinking most of his cup. She refilled it for him, leaning across the table, then she sat back down and looked at him. He added some sugar to his cup and stirred it slowly. He glanced up, saw her staring at him, and sighed. "Same sex marriage is legal. I thought he'd find someone and let himself be happy." 

"You knew? He never said that he'd told you." 

"He didn't have to tell me, we were best friends. He told you?" 

Oops. Peggy had not thought this far ahead. Her and Steve had talked about Bucky and how much he still missed him after all this time. She'd sort of forgotten that it was a secret, but she nodded. "When I told him about Tony and I." 

But Bucky wasn't buying it. "What does that have to do with anything?" he asked, then it clicked. Or rather, _something_ clicked, and it was close but not dead center. "He was in love with someone. During the war." 

"You can talk to him about it when he and Tony get back," she said, because that was the best answer she could give without outing Steve's secret or lying. 

Bucky looked at her for a long moment, and she met his gaze steadily. She knew what he was asking about, and he knew it. "How's the future?" he asked instead of pressing for more information. 

"No real complaints so far," she said. The weird-feeling makeup didn't count, and with the food being so much better, the trade was definitely worth it. She was tasting spices she hadn't known existed, and fried foods were the best thing she'd experienced since Tony informed her that bras were not necessary to leave their bedroom. "The food's good. I like the lack of sickness here." Less smoking since it was bad for you apparently, and that was a pain in the arse but, again, worth the trade-off. Then again, they'd been in the middle of a war, and illnesses were always going to be worse in those conditions. 

Bucky nodded. "When are they going to be back?" 

"No idea," Peggy said with a shrug. Then she remembered that Tony had given her a cell phone that meant instant communication. "Oh, I suppose I can- erm, call him." She reached into the pocket of her coat that was hanging off the back of her chair and pulled it out, poking dubiously at the screen with one finger. It took a minute to type out the short message-- _Do you know when you are coming home, bucky is asking for steve_ \-- but Tony insisted that she'd get faster with time. He also told her that she should be using two thumbs instead of a single pointer finger, but she wasn't too sure about it. She also didn't know how to capitalize anything after a period because it did it automatically. And she had no idea how to put anything other than a period or comma; question marks were, well, out of the question. "He should text me back soon." Lord, even the word 'text' sounded weird in her mouth. All the lingo, the new technology, the different clothes... it was overwhelming. A good overwhelming, if there was such a thing. 

Bucky nodded in acknowledgment, and together, they made it through the entire pot of tea over idle chit chat and long silences. 

* * *

Peggy well and truly did not mean to interrupt anything-- thought she couldn't _possibly_ be interrupting anything because it was three in the morning, and the only reason she was up and in the common area instead of Tony's personal floor was because the leftover pad thai was in that fridge instead of theirs-- but she ended up walking on Steve and Bucky necking on the couch. 

She didn't have particularly loud steps, but they had enhanced hearing and broke apart when they heard her coming. Bucky had a healthy flush on his cheeks, looking truly alive for the first time since he came back. Steve was staring at her with wide eyes, like he was still half afraid that he'd get in trouble. 

"Don't mind me," she said, failing to fight down a smile. "I was just grabbing some food." She kept walking to the kitchen. "Carry on!" she called over her shoulder. She opened the refrigerator, barely able to hear the murmur of voices over the hum of the machine. 

"Hey Peggy!" Tony yelled. He was probably close to the elevator with how far away his voice sounded. "Do you know if we still have- hey Bucky, Steve- have any of those cupcake things left?" 

"I dunno!" she shouted back. 

"Steve, did you eat the last of them? Don't give me that look, you eat those things like they're tic-tacs." 

Peggy found the container and pulled it free with a satisfied hum. She pulled a bowl down from the cupboard and was reminded of how much she loved microwaves. Phones you could carry in your pocket were nice and all, but the real money was in microwaves. 

Tony entered the kitchen and raced towards the half-empty container. He took the lid off and shoved half of one into his mouth, and Steve and Bucky shuffled in. Evidently, their desire to appear like nothing had changed overrode the desire to be alone together. "What are tic-tacs?" Bucky asked. 

"A type of mint," Steve answered, and Peggy frowned. 

"I thought they were sweet? Little orange things, yes?" 

Then Steve was frowning, and all three of them turned to Tony. "It's both," he said, but his mouth was still full so it sounded more like "Iss bof". 

Bucky blinked. "This place is weird." 

"Yes, but you've got such good company." 

"Easy for you to say," Steve said, "you're used to Tony with no beard. This takes some getting used to for the rest of us." 

Tony flipped him off, and Peggy snorted as she put the bowl in the microwave. The future really was wonderful.


End file.
